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Australia has struggled to produce an out-and-out general classification rider since dual world cup winner Oenone Wood who retired in 2008.

But in Taylor, that could soon be changing. The Australian is a prodigiously talented climber, and thrived over the final few stages of the Route de France, also known as the Women’s Tour de France, finishing third on Stage 7 to La Planche des Belles Filles and second on the final day, to seal a podium GC position.

No mean feat, considering she becomes just the second Australian ever to grace the podium, and the first since 1988, before Taylor was even born.

After 9 days in France i will most likely to be found on the beach next week, also far away from any form of pasta and chicken.

— Emilia Fahlin (@EmiliaFahlin) August 11, 2012

Some people talk about ‘the black hole’ after the Olympics. The what? The thing in the ozone layer that means every summer I have to slather myself in sun-screen but still get burnt?

Not exactly. For athletes it’s that feeling that everything you’ve been working towards – that thing that has been consuming your thoughts and actions for so long – is over. It may sound strange, but the best way I can describe it is feeling a sense or hollowness, like the lights have been switched off and you’ve been left fumbling around in the dark not knowing what direction to go in.

For me especially, who was extremely disappointed in my performance, I’m left with this heartburning, dry throat sensation that seems strangely reminiscent to how I felt when my first boyfriend dumped me and left me heartbroken.

Having never been in the situation before (it was my Olympic debut) and never spoken to others about what post-Olympic sensations could entail the first few days post the Olympic road race on the 29th of July were a mess of emotions. One moment I’d be laughing, the next crying, the next wandering around at a loss for what to do. It serves somewhat as a consolation that most women I’ve spoken to since have been experiencing a similar emotional roller-coster.

My teammates were incredible today, kept me in yellow for another day. Congrats @drevorak for the stage win. 1 more stage to go!

— Evelyn Stevens (@evelyn_stevens) August 11, 2012

Being a cyclist, all you want to do is being on your bike to train or race. But things don’t always go the way you want them to go and that’s the reason why I am not on my bike right now…After crashing in the giro, I was out for 2 weeks with a heavy concussion. After more than a month without racing, I went fully motivated to Bretagne for the start of Route de France! Stage 1 was a prologue without corners, so it would have been difficult to crash there again…Stage 2 went well, but 3 days in a row without any bad luck was too much asked, so on 3km of the finish, a French girl decided to go down and take me with her!

Consequences: broken collarbone…and out again!

I could be silly and depressed and complain about all my bad luck this year, but if I look at the bigger picture it’s not so dramatic. If you look at our team this season only, there’s plenty of riders who have had bad luck by crashing and breaking bones, hurting knees, shaking their brains, etc. “It’s part of cycling”, but unfortunately not the nicest part!

Barry told us to race the race, and above all, take responsibility for our mistake (in this case, missing the move…BIG MISTAKE). In the last 20k’s of the race a crash caused the gap we’ve managed to bring down to increase…we almost had it. Luckily, it wasn’t a waste of a day, because for once we weren’t pack fillers, we weren’t following aimlessly like cows in a herd, WE WERE THE TEAM THAT MADE SURE THE RACE AHEAD WAS NOT GOING TO DETERMINE WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY!

Sure, it didn’t work out that way, but hell, we tried…and raced our bikes as a team. Yes, it’s tough going to sleep without a blanket - and it sure is cold. Likewise, it’s tough pacing at the front to bring back a break. Not only did we learn what to do when we missed a break, we realized that we are better off being represented in the first place…just like you would’ve been better off if you had that blanket (in the first place), eh?

For only a few of us, La Route de France will forever be remembered as the race where South African women weren’t just a few cows in the herd, but actually lead the herd. Even when your intentions are to get the cows to a greener pasture, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Similarly, results don’t always tell the whole story, and for once, there was a story worth telling. What happened in this race will probably never make it into the history books, but what I can guarantee is that what we do in the future will…thanks to this race.

With only seconds separating first and third, the final stage of the Route de France was always going to be exciting and challenging. There were a number of small breaks but the decisive break was one that included a large number of riders including, second place Judith Arndt (HTC Columbia) and third place, Olga Zabelinskaja (SAFI Pasta Zara formed on the decent of the first big climb of the day. It also included some talented riders, Charlotte Becker and Sarah Duester (Cervelo Test Team), Lisa Brennauer (HITEC), Edita Puchinskaite (Gauss RDZ Ormu) along with Arndt’s team mates Emilia Fahlin and Luisa Keller.

Nederland Bloeit with the overall jersey wearer, worked hard to closed the gap on the group. The leaders had a maximum advantage of 1 minute 30 seconds before the gap started to come down. Although it held at 50 seconds for over 25km.

With 38km to go the break was working well together, for Arndt it looked like her tactics had paid off and overall victory was in sight. Arndt started the day only 6 seconds behind van Vleuten and Zabelinskaja who was third on GC was t 16 seconds. Then disaster struck, Arndt punctured and lost time on the lead group. Despite all efforts she could not close the gap back to the leaders.

Nederland Bloeit had also started to get some support from the other teams not represented in the break and the gap came down. Arndt struggled to get herself back in the lead group but sat up as the peloton closed in.

The leading group could not maintain the pace without the efforts of HTC Columbia, who were waiting for Arndt and eventually they were caught by the peloton.